A Chance and a Choice
by EmmaEllieJane
Summary: When the sister's cast a spell that alters history and brings back Prue, they realise too late that there can only be three charmed ones and casting the spell will ultimately kill Paige. Now they have to choose between them.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone! Yay! My second story is finally up and running! Sorry it took so long, but I needed to find a storyline I really liked. And this one came to me at 2 o'clock in the morning so please bear with me, lol. Anyway, let me know what you think about it so far, what you think should happen, whether I should just give up, that sort of thing. So feel free to review, as they keep me writing.

Oh, and I don't own charmed or any of the characters (sadly.) :-P

Chapter One.

Phoebe sat up in bed, gasping, her hair was damp and hung limp against her head, trickles of sweat dabbled her forehead and her pajamas were twisted around her body. Struggling to return her breathing to normal and slow her thumping heart, she placed a hand over her eyes and lay back down slowly on her bed, resting her head against the pillow. She thought back to the dream or, rather, nightmare she had just had. It was the same one she had been having every night that week. It started with flashes of colour, then her, standing at the edge of a rocky cliff, looking down into the roaring ocean below. She'd look to her right, to see her little sister, Paige, smiling at her. She was wearing a long, billowing white dress, and her hair blew around her face gently, making her seem angelic. She'd look to her left, and there was another sister in a white dress. Prue. She would feel so happy, until they both turned to her to say, "You have to choose, Phoebe." Then, they would turn away from her, and jump down into the thrashing ocean and jagged rocks. Then Phoebe would scream and wake up, sweating and wondering what it meant. She didn't usually have visions in the form of dreams but, as Leo kept reminding them, their powers were always growing.

Phoebe sighed and rolled onto her side, closing her tired eyes. No use getting all worked up about it now, she'd tell Piper and Paige that she had had the dream again in the morning. Right now, she needed her beauty sleep.

Piper hummed happily in the bright kitchen, frying an omelet on the stove. The window was open and the curtain was blowing in the crisp, early morning breeze. Leo was out buying some more groceries and Wyatt gurgled happily from his highchair, smashing his scrambled eggs together with his hands. Today, Piper didn't mind. She was in a really good mood. There had been no demon activity for a little over two weeks now, and Leo's charges had barely called for him, leaving Piper to feel like her old self again, like a normal mom. And she was loving every minute.

Sliding the omelet onto a plate, she added some parsley and various other herbs, smiling to herself at how perfect it looked. She looked up suddenly as Paige came shuffling in, yawning widely, her hair still slightly ruffled.

"Good morning!" Piper grinned happily, sliding the plate towards her youngest sister. "Omelet?"

"There is no 'good' in this 'morning'." She grumbled. "It's too early." Then, as an after thought, added, "Yes, I would like an omelet. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Piper laughed, taking away Wyatt's bowl of pulverized eggs and rinsing it in the sink. She wet a cloth, then wiped Wyatt's hands and face.

"Has Phoebe left yet?" Paige said between mouthfuls.

"No, I haven't seen her." Piper grabbed the apple juice from the fridge and poured it into two glasses and a plastic bottle. She then started to make another omelet. "She is probably still in bed. She hasn't really been sleeping well."

Paige nodded, remembering what Phoebe had told them. "You think she had that dream again? The one where Prue and I Thelma and Louise it off a cliff?"

Piper raised her eyebrows at the youngest charmed ones pop culture reference, but decided against commenting. "I don't know, but I better go wake her up or she'll be late for work… again." Piper turned the stove off and walked upstairs to her sister's room, knocking lightly on the door.

"Pheebs… Are you in there, honey?" She pushed the door open and peeked inside to see her little sister lying across the bed, her blanket askew. Her eyes fluttered open as she heard Piper come in.

"Morning," Phoebe croaked, clearing her throat. "What time is it?"

"About eight."

Phoebe groaned and sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Did you have that dream again?" Piper sat down on the bed next to Phoebe, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Phoebe nodded.

"Yeah. And another." She said. Piper looked at her, silently telling her to continue, but Phoebe shook her head.

"Later." She waved her hand as if to dismiss the thought and stood up, stretching her legs. She didn't want to tell her older sister right now, not when there was a chance that it could mean nothing. The dream she had had after she had gone back to sleep had been beautiful. A far cry from the nightmares she had been having of her eldest and youngest sister's jumping off a cliff. She didn't want to tell Piper yet, though. She had to make sure.

"Anyway, I'm making eggs if you want some?" Piper stood up and headed for the door.

"Sure, thanks." Phoebe grinned happily. "I'll be down in a minute."

"Yeah, yeah." Piper rolled her eyes, thinking of the time it usually took Phoebe to get ready. Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Piper, who giggled and shut the door behind her then headed back downstairs to the kitchen.

That afternoon, Phoebe stood in the attic flipping silently through the book of shadows, looking for the spell she had heard in her dream last night. Nearly half way through the book, she stopped. She was looking at a page she had passed many times before, but had never really noticed. The only thing she ever remembered seeing was the little hourglass in the right hand corner. Scrawled across the top in small, cursive writing, were the words, 'to alter time'.

"Phoebe!" She jumped as she heard Paige clomping up the stairs, calling her name. She turned back to the book, and, squinting at the tiny writing, she wrote down the spell and the ingredients on a notepad, ripped the top sheet off and stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans just as Paige came into the attic.

"Phoebe?" Paige saw he sister standing behind the book and rolled her eyes. "There you are! I've only been calling you for the last five minutes!"

"Oops, sorry. I was just… reading." Phoebe noticed the book was still open and quickly slammed it shut. She didn't really know why she didn't want her sister's to know, but she knew she didn't want to tell them, at least not yet anyway. Not until she knew for sure that it would work.

"Well, Piper wants to talk, we'll be downstairs in the sun room when you're ready." Paige said, raising her eyebrows at her sister's weird behavior.

After she had left, Phoebe pulled out the piece of paper she had shoved into her pocket and smoothed it over, then opened the book to find the spell again to make sure she hadn't forgotten to write anything. "That's funny, it's not here." She muttered to herself, flipping back and forth through the pages. There was the spell before it, and the spell after it, but no spell 'to alter time'. In the middle was just a blank page.

"Let's just hope I got it right." She said to herself, before shutting the book closed again, putting the note back in her pocket and walking out of the attic.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey all! So here is the second chapter, I hope you like it! Tell me what you think about the chapter, and what you think should or is going to happen. This chapter is probably more of a filler, so I'll put some action in the next one. Anyway, I have to get some sleep as I have a psychology exam in the morning. So please, read and review. And most importantly, enjoy!

xx Ellie xx

Chapter two.

Paige walked back down the stairs slowly, dreading the 'talk' she was about to have with her sister's. She knew exactly what Piper wanted to talk about, it was the same talk she had this time every year. Next week was Prue's birthday, and every year on her birthday, Piper, Phoebe, Leo and Darryl and his family would all go place birthday cards and flowers on her grave. Paige had gone, but only because she felt obliged to. Last year her card had merely said, 'Happy Birthday, Prue.' She had felt guilty when she glanced at Phoebe's novel sized letter, and her red eyes, another thing she couldn't seem to do; cry. To be truthful, it was really very awkward for Paige. She had never met Prue, she didn't know what she was like, she had only heard stories about what a super witch she was. She didn't miss her like Piper and Phoebe did. How can you miss someone you never met?

'You can't,' Paige thought silently to herself. 'You can only feel sad that you never got the chance.'

She couldn't draw it out any longer, so she went into the sunroom and sat down on a chair, Piper had placed out a platter of fruit and she took a piece of watermelon.

"Where's Phoebe?" Piper's head snapped up as she heard Paige come in. She was in the middle of writing a birthday card.

"In the attic. She's comi…"

She didn't even get to finish the sentence when Phoebe came bounding into the room, a grin spread across her face.

"Not that I mind, but why are you smiling?" Piper raised her eyebrows quizzically at her younger sister.

"Never mind, I'll tell you later. What did you want to talk to us about?" Phoebe sat on the other chair and grabbed a piece of apple.

"Well, as you both know, it's Prue's birthday next week…" Piper started.

"Uh-huh." Phoebe interrupted, apple juice dribbled down her chin and she absently wiped it away. "And we are all going to go down to her grave to give her flowers and cards and Darryl's coming and is that okay with us because if we don't want to, we don't have to come it's entirely up to us?"

Paige and Piper sat still, shocked at the amount of bluntness in their sister's voice. There was silence, then, finally, Piper spoke.

"Phoebe, is something wrong?"

"No!" Phoebe snorted, rolling her eyes. "What made you say that? Nothing's wrong."

Piper glanced at Paige, as if to confirm that it wasn't just her that was thinking that there was something aloof with Phoebe. Paige shrugged and grabbed another piece of watermelon.

"Phoebe, I don't want to be rude, but, well… usually this time of year you're a little…" Piper struggled to find the right words. "A little less upbeat."

Phoebe smiled again. "That, my dear sister, is because this year is going to be different.

"Different how?" Paige asked, wary.

"Just wait and see." Phoebe giggled, leaped off the chair and practically skipped into the foyer and out the front door. Piper jumped a little, startled, as the front door opened and slammed shut. Paige turned to her eldest sister, eyes wide.

"So, you think she is possessed?"

Piper didn't answer, just looked out the room after Phoebe.

"What on earth is she talking about?"

Phoebe loved China town. All the small shops with funky smells and exotic clothes hanging on racks, the brightly lit signs and the dragons taped to windows. And there was magic everywhere, she could feel it. They bought most of the ingredients for their spells here, ones they couldn't buy in the local supermarket, anyway. Phoebe knew that this was where she would find the extra bits and pieces she'd need to make the potion for the spell.

Walking into the charmed one's favourite shop, she went straight to the shelf that was stacked with various herbs and spices. She quickly found the ones she wanted and place them on the counter, digging in her handbag for money.

As she looked up, the notes in her hand, she saw the elderly shopkeeper, an old Chinese woman whom the sister's got along really well with. Phoebe was surprised to see her narrowing her eyes.

"These are ingredients for magic that should not be played with." She said softly.

"Magic?" Phoebe gave a nervous giggle and put the money into the old lady's wrinkled, outstretched hand. With shaking fingers, the old woman slipped the cash into the register and put the change into Phoebe's hand, closing her hand around hers into a fist.

"Be careful, young one." Brown eyes looked directly into Phoebe's, pleading with her.

"I always am." With one last glance at the little old woman, Phoebe grabbed the brown bag and turned around and hurried out of the shop, a little less excited. In all honesty, the normally friendly, bubbly woman had scared her. Did she actually know they were witches?

Phoebe shook her head quickly, dispelling the thought, and walked quickly down the streets of Chinatown to Piper's car.

They say that pain fades away over time, but if anything, the pain in Piper's heart was growing. It got worse with every passing day that they spent without Prue. Every smile Wyatt gave her, every Christmas they shared. Every movie they went to, every date Phoebe went on. Every new thing they learned about Paige gave Piper a sharp pain in her gut that Prue couldn't be here to share that with them. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away and looked down at the bouquet of flowers she was arranging. All this didn't beat having Prue alive, cooking her a birthday dinner, giving her presents and being scolded for 'wasting their hard earned money on her'. Like any money Phoebe had back then was hard earned. Piper felt a small chuckle escape her lips at the thought. All she really wanted was her big sister. She'd give anything to hold Prue in her arms again.

"Piper!" Phoebe burst into the kitchen, carrying a brown paper bag. She thrust it onto the counter then turned to her older sister, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

"Piper, I found a spell that will bring Prue back."

Piper blinked, staring hard at the middle sister, trying to decide if she was desperate or just plain insane.

"What?"

"I found a spell that will bring Prue back." Phoebe repeated. She started to empty the bag onto the counter and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her back pocket and laid it on the bench.

"Pheebs… what are you doing?" Piper's eyes widened and she raised her hands in disbelief. She accepted the piece of paper Phoebe was offering to her. "What's this?"

"I told you," Phoebe said matter-of-factly. "It's a spell to bring Prue back. All we have to do is make this potion, and then, when the moon is full, pour it over her grave and chant the spell three times. And then it will be like Prue never died."

"Hey, guy's. What's going on?" Paige asked as she walked into the kitchen and went for the fridge.

"Apparently, Phoebe has found a spell to raise the dead." Piper sifted through the ingredients Phoebe had bought.

"Like, Zombies?" Paige found a bottle of water, and took a sip.

"Like Prue."

Paige spat water everywhere, then covered her mouth, her face was pale. "What?" She wiped the water away from her mouth with her sleeve, turning to Phoebe. "And what makes you think this is going to work?"

"It'll work." Phoebe said firmly, eyes set in determination.

"Well, yeah, it'll work. But how will it work?" Piper said. "Remember how I cast all those spells to bring Prue back, and all that happened was that we found another sister instead."

Paige glared at Piper. "Well, thanks." She said, her voice drooling with sarcasm.

"You know what I mean." Piper dismissed Paige with a wave of her hands and turned back to Phoebe.

"Anyway, Pheebs. I tried every spell in that book. What makes you think I didn't already try that one?"

"I had a vision, Piper. You know what my visions mean, that we have to help an innocent. Well, maybe Prue is our innocent, Piper. And we have to help her."

Piper nearly laughed at the idea of Prue the super witch being an innocent.

"Phoebe turned on the stove and placed a pan over the fire before turning to her sister.

"So, what do you say?"


	3. Chapter 3

Hey! Sorry its so short but I have to go to work and I wanted to get another chapter out. So please, read and review, let me know what you think and I take all into consideration, believe me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and bye for now!

xx Ellie xx

Chapter Three.

"I cannot believe you convinced me to go along with this!" Piper paced back and forth across the kitchen whilst Phoebe stood behind the stove, measuring out ingredients. Paige was reading the spell.

"I don't get it." Paige looked up, puzzled.

Phoebe looked intently at the funky smelling herb she was weighing on Piper's kitchen scales. "What don't you get, sweetie?"

"This spell. It's called 'to alter time', yet you pour the potion over a grave to bring someone back to life." Paige shook her head, confused.

Phoebe stopped and looked up at her little sister. "When you do the spell, it's like the person never died. Time has been altered."

"Oh, this is bad. So not good." Piper raked her hand through her hair, exhaling loudly, cheeks puffed.

"Will you calm down, Piper?" Phoebe said sternly to her older sister. "Everything is going to be just fine."

"Yeah, but Pheebs, this is personal gain. You know the rules! I want Prue back just as much as you do, but spells like these have consequences, we can't just ignore them. The elders…"

"Stuff the elders, Piper." Phoebe's brown eyes blazed. "They don't understand. Prue didn't deserve to die! She was good, she was protecting the innocent. And she's our sister. We need her."

Piper stopped pacing and sighed, admitting defeat. Phoebe sounded close to tears, her hand was clenched tightly around a small glass vial. There was silence for awhile, then Paige spoke.

"Piper, I'm not saying that Phoebe's right, or that this is the right thing to do. Or that it's even gonna work!" Paige threw her hands up in the air, then spoke more softly. "But if there is a chance that I could meet the sister that I never knew, then I'd like to take it." She paused before continuing. "Besides, Phoebe gets her visions for a reason. If she had this vision, then it means that we have to try and bring Prue back. It's the only reasonable explanation."

There was a long silence as Piper thought. Her heart was aching for Prue, but her head was telling her that she should do the right thing. And her gut was telling her this was such a bad idea.

"Prue is going to love you, Paige." Piper said finally, giving in.

Phoebe grinned, and went back to work. Paige smiled at Piper with shining eyes, then reached out and gave her a hug.

Piper had a feeling she was going to regret this.

Paige rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to warm herself up. It was later that night, and the temperature had dropped to practically freezing. Despite the layers and layers of warm clothing, the sister's were still cold. 'Thankfully, Leo is at home taking care of Wyatt.' Paige thought to herself. 'He's too tiny to be out in the cold like this.' After much coaxing on behalf of Phoebe and Paige, they had finally convinced Piper to not inform Leo of what they were doing. "He'd only try to stop us." Paige had tried to reason with her.

"Yeah, well maybe we need to be stopped! I'm not just going to go behind Leo's back, Paige. He's my husband." Piper had argued.

After another 10 minutes or so, Piper had finally agreed, on the notion that if they told Leo, there was a good chance the elders might find out.

"Hurry up, Phoebe. It's freezing out here." Piper said through clenched teeth.

"I'm hurrying, calm down." Phoebe finished pouring the potion over Prue's grave and reached for her sister's hands, holding the spell. Grabbing her hands, Piper and Paige read the spell together with the middle charmed one.

"Light is dark, and dark is light,

help us reverse that horrible fight,

Alter time so it may undo,

Bring back our sister, bring back Prue."

The sister's finished the spell and listened to the dead sounds of the middle of the night in the darkness of the cemetery, still holding onto each other.

"Did it work?" Paige asked softly, as if loud words would ruin the spell.

"I think Phoebe stuffed it up. What did you change the words for?" Piper said grumpily.

"I had to, Piper. I had to personalize it." Phoebe hissed back in the dark.

Although trees swayed silently, and critters could be heard scampering around in the forest beyond the graveyard, all was still. Not the faintest sign that the spell had worked.

"That's it, I'm going home." Piper turned abruptly and took off into the night.

"Piper, wait! Where are you going? The spell…" Phoebe started.

"Didn't work, Pheebs. Do you see Prue anywhere? Let's just go home. Paige, your orbing powers, please." Piper waved her hands at Paige to come join her. Paige obliged and grabbed Piper's arm, waiting for Phoebe to join them.

Phoebe took one last look around the silent graveyard and sighed, collecting all her things.

"I guess your right, Piper." Phoebe looked about ready to burst into tears.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry." Paige wrapped her free arm around Phoebe's shoulders. "I really wished it had of worked."

Piper softened a bit, seeing her sister so sad, and gave a small smile. "Come on Pheebs, let's go home and I'll make you a cup of tea."

Phoebe nodded and they disappeared in a swirl of bright lights.

Phoebe woke up early the next morning to see sunlight leaking in through her curtains, illuminating her bed. She opened her eyes fully and sat up slowly, what happened last night coming back to her. Looking around, her room looked much the same. She felt much the same. Nothing had changed. She felt just about ready to cry. It was like losing her big sister all over again.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stretched, then stood up and went into Paige's room, remembering that Paige had borrowed her sweater a couple of days ago.

"Paige?" Phoebe slowly pushed open her younger sister's door, and stood there, mouth open in shock. Where art supplies and scattered makeup had once sat on a dresser was a black camera and bag. In the corner, where there used to be an easel, stood a tall, old-fashioned photographer's stand. And in the bed where Paige had gone to sleep the night before, was Prue.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, my sister made me write this; if you like Ben 10, read my little sister's story. I've favourited her on my home page.

Anyway, about the story. I usually try to make my chapter's about 1,000 words long, but this chapter I tried to make a bit longer, so I hope it's okay. (=

So the reviews are great, you guys let me know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, so I can fix it. And another thing, I'm SO sorry about all the typo's in the last chapter, I went and edited them all out. I was just super tired but the story wouldn't leave me alone. Forgive me? Lol.

Sorry, rambling. Anyway, please read and review, I hope you like it, cause if you don't, it's kind of pointless. =P

Chapter Four

Phoebe stood gaping at her eldest sister's sleeping form, slowly backing out of the room, stopping only when she bumped into the wall. Taking a deep breath, Phoebe, having had time to get through the shock, walked into Paige's room and stood next to her slumbering sister. A lump rose in her throat as she reached out a hand and gently stroked a piece of dark hair away from Prue's eyes. She stirred and her eyes blinked open, a look of confusion flashed across her face at seeing her little sister standing over her bed. Phoebe's eyes shined with tears as she stared at the big sister she thought she had lost forever. Prue sat up.

"Phoebe, what are you doing?" Prue's words cut through what had been a sentimental moment for Phoebe, causing the tears to spill down her face.

"Oh, Prue!" Phoebe dived onto her oldest sister and wrapped her arms around her neck, sobbing into her shoulder.

"Pheebs, what's wrong?" Prue asked, worried. Her mind went through a million possible things that could be wrong. "Is Piper okay?"

"Piper's fine." Phoebe said between sobs. "I'm just so happy to see you!"

Prue gently pulled Phoebe's arms away from around her neck and pushed her back to look her in the eyes. "Phoebe, you saw me last night." Prue's face darkened as a thought struck her. "Are you drunk?"

Phoebe snorted and was about to object when she was interrupted by Piper coming into the room.

"Piper, I think Phoebe's drunk." Prue's eyes widened as Piper walked across the room and embraced her in a warm hug.

"Oh, Prue! I thought I'd never see you again!" Piper said.

Prue rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me your drunk too, Piper. This is ridiculous!" She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. "It's 7 in the morning! There will be no tequila shots at 7 in the morning!" Prue scolded her younger sisters.

Piper's eyes widened as she realised why Prue was less then enthused to see them.

"Pheebs, the spell altered time, Prue doesn't remember."

"Oh," Phoebe said as realization sunk in. "OH!" She said again, she looked around the room, Paige's room. "Oh my god." She said softly.

"You cast a spell on me? What can't I remember? What is going on?" Prue demanded.

"Pheebs, what is it?" Piper asked, ignoring her older sister.

Phoebe turned to Piper.

"Paige."

* * *

Paige yawned and opened her eyes. She had just had the best night's sleep she had had in ages. She rolled onto her side, then suddenly shot up as she saw a guy sleeping in the bed beside her. Her heart stopped as she looked around and realised she was not in her room, where she was pretty sure she had gone to sleep the night before. She was in some stranger's room. Looking down, she gasped to see she was naked. Paige quickly scrambled out of bed, the covers twisting around her, and fell onto the floor with a loud thump. Hearing the guy stir above her, she quickly orbed out back to the manor.

* * *

"Paige!" Piper and Phoebe raced around the house, looking for their little sister. Prue followed them, looking annoyed.

"Piper, Phoebe. Stop right now!"' Prue snapped. She had had enough.

Piper and Phoebe whirled around to face their sister, alarm and worry creased onto their faces.

"Thank you." Prue said, taking a breath. "Now will someone please tell me what is going on? Who is Paige?"

Piper looked at Phoebe. Phoebe nodded.

"Paige is our half-sister, Prue." Phoebe said.

Prue ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

"Prue, she's telling the truth. Look, maybe you should sit down and we'll tell you everything." Piper said, leading her sister to the armchair in the living room and sitting her down. Piper and Phoebe sat down on the couch opposite her.

"Prue, honey, do you remember Shaks?" Piper asked.

"Of course I remember Shaks. He almost killed us, Piper. And he killed our innocent. What does that have to do with this Paige person? Our supposed sister."

"Prue, Shaks didn't almost kill you, he did kill you. Leo didn't arrive in time to save you, he could only save Piper." Phoebe said.

Prue's mouth hung open in shock. "Is this some kind of sick joke? Cause it's so not funny."

"You have to believe us, Prue." Piper said softly.

"I do believe you, you guys are my sister's. And in my time as a charmed one I've learnt that anything is possible." Prue closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "So that's what the spell was for? To bring me back."

It was more of a statement than a question, but Phoebe answered her anyway. "Yes. We cast it last night, and when we woke up this morning, you were here, and Paige wasn't."

"So what's the deal with this Paige?"

"Turns out mom had an affair with Sam after she got divorced from dad. The product was a baby half witch half whitelighter, who is our half sister. Mom and Sam gave her up for adoption it being so forbidden for whitelighters and witches to have a relationship after all. After you died, I tried to cast a spell to bring you back and recreate the power of three, but instead it ended up calling Paige." Piper said. "She's great, Prue. Your going to love her."

"That's a lot to take in before coffee."

"It's a lot to take in period." Piper added.

"So, where is Paige?" Prue asked her younger sister's, standing up.

"That's what we were…" Phoebe started. She was interrupted as a very flustered looking Paige orbed in, wearing nothing but a sheet wrapped around her body, lying down on the floor.

"This must be Paige." Prue said, disapproval seeped into her voice. "Does she often do this?"

"Not very often." Piper said. "Paige, sweetie, what happened? Are you okay?" Piper asked as she and Phoebe reached down to help their sister to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Paige clutched the sheet tight around her body. It was then she noticed Prue.

"The spell worked." She said, eyes wide in awe.

"Uh-huh. Apparently. Why are you naked?" Prue titled her head to the side, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't know." Paige threw an arm up in the air. I went to sleep in my room, and woke up in some guy's house." Paige said, grimacing.

"Who's the guy?" Phoebe asked.

"I didn't really get a good look at him. I kind of panicked."

Paige turned back to Prue and looked her up and down. "Wow. The spell worked. I finally get to meet Prue, the super witch." Paige grabbed Prue in a hug, Prue's eyes widened.

"Um… Paige? Maybe you could get dressed? You can wear something of Phoebe's if your stuff is… wherever it is you live."

Paige pulled back, surprised. "I live here."

"How?" Prue asked. "In my room?" Her eyes widened as she took in what she had just said.

"Yes, Prue. In your room." Phoebe said softly, barely a whisper.

Piper went up and gave her sister a hug as Phoebe led Paige upstairs into her room.

"Sorry, but I think that when we altered time, we really altered time. Technically, in this time, we still don't know that you exist. And you don't exactly live here." Phoebe said as they walked up the stairs.

Paige pulled the sheet up so she wouldn't trip. "I guess we didn't really think this through, huh?" She said, laughing nervously. Inside, her heart stung. It felt like she had been kicked out and replaced with another. She could really sympathize with Prue right now.

Walking into Phoebe's room, Paige went to her cupboard and pulled out some clothes and slipped them on.

"It's okay, you can move in again. We can be the charmed four, it'll be great." Phoebe said brightly, despite the niggling feeling of doubt she had.

"I suppose," Paige said. "This just doesn't feel right, is all."

* * *

Piper poured some coffee into a mug and handed it to Prue, who accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks, Piper. I needed that. It's not every day you find out you were dead and you have a half-sister."

Piper shook her head. "I'm sorry, Prue. You know what Phoebe's like. When she gets her mind set on something, it's hard to stop her."

"Don't I know it." Prue agreed, taking a sip of coffee. "So where's Leo?"

Piper's eyes widened. "Leo!" She called.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around to see her husband holding Wyatt in his arms.

"Where were you?" Piper demanded.

Prue came up and took Wyatt off Leo, crooning. "How's my favourite little nephew?"

Wyatt giggled and kicked his tiny legs about.

"I was just picking up some milk. I was outside when you called. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Piper said, smiling as she watched Prue and Wyatt playing together, her heart swelled. Wyatt placed a piece of Prue's hair in his mouth and Prue playfully scolded him.

"Don't you eat my hair, Wyatt Victor Halliwell." Wyatt gurgled happily.

"Nothing at all." Piper repeated.

_I need help! I have no idea who I want that strange guy in the bed next to Paige to be. Should it be someone she knows? Someone she doesn't know? I couldn't come up with an idea, so I skimmed around it this chapter, but I would like to include him in further chapters so please tell me what you think! Thankyou for reading and please review!!!_


	5. Chapter 5

Hey all! I'm uber sorry it took so long to update! I have no great excuses, just that my computer broke. So please forgive me!!! :-P

Thankyou to all those reviewed with suggestions about who to make the strange guy in Paige's bed, they were very helpful. I loved reading everyone's reviews.

I hope you like this chapter, I tried to make it a bit longer to compensate. Please read and review and thankyou so much to everyone who has stuck by me and my story!

xx EmmeEllieJane xx

Chapter Five.

Paige stood nervously in the living room, leaning against the door frame. She could hear her sisters talking in loud whispers in the kitchen.

"But Prue, she's our sister!" Phoebe said adamantly.

"Phoebe, I have no idea who this girl is, I've never heard of her before in my life so excuse me for being a little skeptical. Demons come in all shapes and sizes, even as the ones we love, ones we think we can trust."

"Paige is not a demon! You have to believe us, Prue!" Phoebe sounded frustrated and a little annoyed. Paige didn't blame her, she felt a little annoyed herself. Who was she to call her a demon?

"I do believe that you think you are telling the truth, but I can't help but think that maybe some demon has cast a spell on you to implant memories of another sister."

"That's not it at all! I know it; I can feel it in my heart. Paige is our sister." The whispers weren't whispers anymore and it was getting hard for Paige not to eavesdrop.

"Prue," Piper said quietly, playing the part of middle sister and mediator and speaking up for the first time. Paige remembered how Phoebe usually played the part of mediator for her and Piper and grinned slightly. "Just talk to her will you please? For us?"

There was silence for awhile, then Paige heard shuffling. Realising that someone was coming into the living room, she dived onto the couch on the opposite side of the room, pretending to inspect her nails.

"So how come she can orb?" Paige heard Leo ask Piper and Phoebe as Prue came into the room, looking very much like she didn't want to be there. She sat down in the arm chair opposite her as Paige continued looking down at her hands, fidgeting nervously. Prue crossed one leg over the other and cleared her throat.

"Ahem."

Paige looked up.

"Hi." Prue said, unsure of what to say.

Paige grinned and gave a small wave, not trusting herself to speak.

"So, um, I'm Prue."

"Yeah, I know." Paige said, and then mentally scolded herself. She hadn't meant to sound so rude.

"Right, right. The whole I died thing and you came to replace me." Prue grimaced.

"I didn't replace you, Prue. I couldn't, you mean more to Piper and Phoebe than that. There's not a day that goes by where I'm not reminded of how I'm not Prue, the super witch."

Prue raised her eyebrows. "Really? They say that?"

"No, they don't have to. You can see it in their eyes, especially Piper's. They didn't ask for this, it just happened, and they've had to deal with it. Sometimes I think it would have been better for everyone if I had died, and you had lived." Paige crinkled her forehead, wondering is she had really just said all that.

"So you really are our sister then?"

"Well, half-sister, but yes."

"And you're not an evil warlock?" Prue uncrossed her legs and leaned towards Paige.

Paige shook her head, confused. "No. What's with the third degree?

Prue stood up, more relaxed. "I cast a truth spell."

"What? When?" Paige stood up, upset that Prue hadn't trusted her.

"I cast a truth spell whilst you were getting dressed." Prue turned to Paige, sincerity in her eyes. "I had to be sure that you weren't evil."

"So you cast a spell on me?" Paige flinched as her voice went high pitched.

"Not just you. Everyone in the house. We all have to speak the truth, and anyone we speak to has to as well. It lasts for 24 hours, so we are all temporarily grounded until the spell has worn off." Prue grinned, despite the thunderous look on Paige's face.

"So how is it going?" Phoebe walked into the living room, smiling hopefully. Piper walked in cautiously beside her.

"Great." Prue assured her sisters.

"Prue cast a spell on me." Paige cried, waving her hand towards Prue.

"What kind of spell?" Piper narrowed her eyes at her older sister.

"A truth spell."

"That explains a lot." Phoebe smiled.

"So I take it you believe us now?" Piper said to Prue.

"Yeah. I do."

"Wait." Paige said, confusion clouding her face. "You're not mad at her?"

"No, why would we be?" Piper asked, looking confused.

"Because Prue just cast a spell and didn't tell us."

"She was just trying to find the truth, Paige." Phoebe explained.

"Yeah, and if I had done that, I would never hear the end of it." Paige said softly, before she disappeared in a swirl of blue and white orbs.

"Okay, not so great." Prue came and stood in between her sisters. "Was it me?"

"No, it's us." Piper leaned her head against Prue's shoulder.

Phoebe frowned. "We have been kind of hard on her."

Prue led them to the couch and sat down. "How come?"

"I guess we were afraid. We had already lost one sister; we didn't want to lose another." Phoebe said. "It's good to have you back, Prue." Phoebe wrapped her arms around her eldest sister and buried her head in her neck.

Prue kissed the top of Phoebe's head and then turned to Piper. "So where do you think Paige went?"

Paige looked around as she finished orbing. Finding the room empty, she let out a sigh of relief. She was in the house she had woken up in earlier that morning, except this time there was no strange naked guy in the bed beside her.

She went over to the bedside table and pulled open the drawer. She found nothing, just a book and some pens. And a perfume. Picking up the perfume she sprayed it onto her wrist. She smiled, recognizing the smell. It was one of her favourites. She put the perfume back and went onto the closet. She pulled open the doors and rifled through the array of both men and women's clothing. She suddenly gasped, surprised, when she found one of her coats, one she had had since she was twenty. She put it on and slipped her hands into the pockets.

Her curiosity sparked when her hand brushed against something, a piece of note paper. She pulled it out and unfolded it. Eggs, bread, coffee…

'A shopping list.' Paige thought. 'Not exactly helpful.'

Paige's eyes suddenly went to the bottom of the list.

"Prunes?" Paige said softly to herself. "The only person I've ever known who has liked prunes was…"

She was interrupted as someone opened the door behind her.

"Paige?"

Paige spun around and gasped. "Shane?"

The Halliwell sisters sat on the lounge, Wyatt in Piper's lap, watching Leo, his eyes shut, trying to sense where Paige was.

Finally, Leo opened his eyes.

"Anything?" Phoebe asked.

Leo shook his head. "Nothing. Not even a glimmer. Makes sense, because she's not my charge."

"But she is, well she was." Piper's brow crinkled. "I'm still not sure what's what."

"If she is our sister, we could just do the call a lost sister spell." Prue suggested.

"Cast another spell on her?" Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "I really don't think that will help the situation any."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? We are running out of options." Prue stood up and walked into the kitchen. Piper handed Wyatt to Leo and her and Phoebe followed Prue, who was putting the coffee on.

"We wait. Paige will come back when she is ready." Piper said.

"I don't know. She seemed pretty stubborn to me." Prue grabbed some mugs and set them on the bench. Phoebe gave Piper a knowing smile.

"Yeah, she is Prue. Just like someone else I know."

Prue narrowed her eyes at Phoebe.

"And just like that someone else, Paige may be stubborn, but family comes first. She will come home when she is ready." Piper added.

"And hopefully soon. Phoebe said, worry in her eyes. "I have a feeling something bad is about to happen."


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! I have no idea what any of you will think of this chapter, it was kind of a surprise for me too, but that was the way I felt it had to go. I hope you all like it, please review and tell me what you think, leave suggestions. I take all into consideration. And I'm sorry it's so short. Next chapter will be bigger.

xx Ellie

Chapter Six.

Paige stared in shock as Shane dropped the back pack he was holding and ran across the room, swooping Paige up into a big hug.

"Can't… breathe…"Paige gasped as she struggled to push against him.

Shane let go quickly and held her at arm's length. "Paige, honey, where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was at the manor." Paige's eyes widened as she remembered the truth spell.

"What's that? Some new club?" Shane lowered his arms and held her hands, Paige quickly pulled them away.

"No, it's where I live."

"Paige, you live here, with me." His eyes suddenly clouded with fear. "Are you trying to tell me you are breaking up with me?"

"No." Paige looked around the room, searching for an escape.

Shane looked confused. "What's wrong?"

Paige looked up, dreading what she would say. "Prue is alive, she was meant to be dead, but then Piper, Phoebe and I cast this spell that brought her back to life and now it seems like they don't need me anymore."

Shane stood up, shocked. "Paige, I think you should talk to someone."

"No, I'm fine." Paige plastered a smile on her face, deciding to make the most of the truth spell. "So how long have we lived here?"

"About a year…" He started, Paige cut him off.

"And are we…" she paused, cringing. "Married?"

Shane looked at his hands. "No." He paused. "So that's what this is about."

Shane lifted her chin gently, looking her in the eyes, and gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

Then he walked silently over to the chest of drawers and pulled out a small box. He walked over to her slowly, unsure, before kneeling down onto one knee. He opened the box, revealing a beautiful diamond engagement ring and offered it up towards her. Paige stared in shock.

"I wanted to wait until tonight at dinner, but…" Determination set into his eyes.

"I love you, Paige Matthews. Will you marry me?"

But before she could answer, she disappeared in a swirl of bright lights.

"I cannot believe you did that!" Paige cried angrily, storming down the stairs with her sisters close behind.

"I told you she wouldn't like it." Phoebe whispered to Prue.

"I was with Shane, I don't know how to explain this to him." Paige cried, turning around and throwing her arms up in the air before storming off into the kitchen. Piper and Phoebe shared a look.

"Wait, Shane? As in _the_ Shane?" Piper asked as they walked into the kitchen.

Prue ignored her Piper. "Paige, don't be ridiculous. We had to, you just ran off on us and we had no way to find you!" She said, putting her hands firmly onto the bench.

"Paige grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and spun around to face their not-so-dead sister. "See, there's this new invention, called the phone. Try using it."

"I'm sorry, I must have been too busy being dead to remember." Prue retaliated.

"Just because…"

"Okay, stop it, right now!" Piper said fiercely, standing between her sisters.

"Why are you two fighting?" Phoebe said. "Prue, we just brought you back to life, with the help of Paige, I might add. You should be just a little more thankful. And Paige, give her some understanding, will you? I mean, just a few hours ago she was a pile of bones."

Prue crinkled up her nose. "Let's not talk about how dead I used to be, okay? And besides, I don't remember any of that. All I know is that I went to bed last night with two sisters, and I wake up with three."

Paige looked at Prue. "I'm sorry. But this is hard for me too, my life has changed."

"We heard." Phoebe's eyes twinkled mischievously. "So, what's this we hear about Shane? Are you two together? "

Paige leaned against the table. "Apparently so. He asked me to marry him."

"What?" Piper's mouth hung open in shock. "What did you say?"

"Nothing, I didn't get a chance to. I was called, remember?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Prue said guiltily.

"That's okay." Paige paused. "I don't know what to say to him. Technically I've only known him for a few months, but he has known me for a couple of years. How do I explain to him that I need more time?"

Piper put her arm around Paige's shoulders. "You just tell him that you need to think about it."

Phoebe smiled. "This is going to be so great. We have you back, Prue. We have Paige. We can all be together. One happy family."

Paige suddenly frowned, her hand flew to her head.

"Paige, what's wrong?" Prue asked, concern kicking in.

"I… I don't know." Paige said truthfully, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed into Piper's arms.


	7. Chapter 7

I am super sorry it took so long for me to post this chapter, I hope it's worth the wait, lol. I don't have any excuses at all. I'm not even going to pretend I have any, so I'm just going to post this, whilst begging for forgiveness, and reviews.

xx Ellie

Chapter Seven

"Leo!" Phoebe cried as Piper gently eased herself and Paige onto the floor, panick racked through her slim body.

Leo appeared in a swirl of bright lights holding Wyatt in his arms. Seeing Paige on the floor he quickly passed his son to Prue and knelt down and placed his hands over his sister-in-law.

"What happened?" Leo asked.

"I don't know, she just fainted." Phoebe pushed a lock of hair from Paige's closed eyes, recoiling her hand. "Leo, she's burning up."

Leo shook his head before pulling his hands back. "I can't heal her."

"What… Why not?" Piper asked, looking down at Paige's pale face, gleaming with a sheen of sweat.

"A spell has been cast on her." Leo said. "It's too strong for me to break."

"A spell?" Prue said. "Like, a truth spell?" She moved Wyatt to her other hip as he played with her hair, biting her lip nervously.

Leo shook his head. "A truth spell wouldn't do this."

"Well, Leo, what would?" Piper asked, getting frantic.

"I'm not sure. But it would have to be someone very powerful."

"Well, whoever did this, I'm sure we can break it. We are the charmed ones." Prue said proudly. She smiled at her nephew and kissed his forehead.

"We have to get her somewhere more comfortable." Phoebe said, she felt like she was going to be sick, she didn't want to lose a sister again, not after she had just gotten Prue back.

"Okay, Leo, you orb Paige up to Phoebe's room. Phoebe, Piper, let's go check the book of shadows." Prue ordered.

Piper smiled slightly as she slipped easily back into the role of middle sister. She gently passed Paige to Leo, then the three Halliwell sister and Wyatt hurried up the stairs to the attic, leaving a swirl of blue and white orbs behind them.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Phoebe asked as they entered the attic. Prue put Wyatt on a rug with his toys and went straight to the book of shadows to stand next to her sisters, all business. Phoebe admired her dedication even though she had technically only known Paige for a couple of hours.

"I'm thinking a powerful warlock with a vendetta against the charmed ones." Piper said, somewhat sarcastically as she hurriedly flipped through the book's thick pages, yellow with age. Piper loved how old the book was, all her family history curled up neatly in the pages, helping them grow and learn, and discover who they are. The book had helped them through a lot, and she hoped that it could help them now.

Prue's head tilted to one side as she looked over Piper's shoulder, pointing out various demons and sorcerers, as Piper dismissed them as suspects due to their lack of power. After Piperr shook her head at another evil warlock, Prue threw her hands up in exasperation.

"I've got to hand it to you, sis. You really know your demons."

Piper smiled up at her big sister. "I had big shoes to fill." Her warm brown eyes glowed as she took in Prues face, something she never thought she would see again. She had a sudden impulse to hug her, and gave in to it, wrapping her arms around her elder sister's waist.

"Don't ever leave us again, Prue. Not until your old and gray anyway."

Prue grinned and rolled her eyes playfully, returning the embrace. "I promise."

Meanwhile, Phoebe had continued flipping through the book, and now groaned in frustration.

"This is useless! We are getting absolutely nowhere." She tilted her face up towards the roof, and said loudly, "Can we get a little help here?"

There was silence in the dusty old attic, save for Wyatt's happy gurgles from his play corner, until the pages of the book started rustling slightly, faster and faster until they were flipping madly then finally settled on a worn page.

"Thanks!" Phoebe shouted up the roof, thanking her grams or her mother, she wasn't sure which, as she leant over to see what it was. A gasp escaped her throat as she saw what it was.

"Oh no." Realisation hit her and her brow furrowed, as she stared at the book, horrified. Prue's arms slipped from Piper's shoulders and she turned to face her younger sister.

"What is it?" She glanced at the page. "A spell? What kind of spell?"

Phoebe turned to Piper, fear etched onto her features.

Phoebe's voice quivered. "To alter time."

Leo placed Paige carefully onto the bed, lowering her head down slowly until it touched the pillow. He grabbed a woolen blanket from the end of Phoebe's bed and laid it gently across her. He sat down next to her, staring at the sister-in-law he never knew he had. Who didn't exist until this morning. He didn't really know what to believe. He knew in his heart that Piper was telling the truth, she would never lie to him, at least not intentionally, but how could a younger half-sister exist without the elders knowing? Especially a half-whitelighter like Paige was. He watched as she tossed and turned, moaning pitifully in her sleep, her face flushed and shimmering with a sheen of sweat, her hair damp and hanging limply against her face. To anyone else it would look like a fever, but Leo knew it was something much more sinister than that. He quickly hurried into the bathroom and grabbed a wet washcloth, not wanting to leave Paige alone for too long, and hurried back into Phoebe's room, placing the cloth against Paige's head. Leo was a whitelighter, and before that he was a doctor. He hated the vulnerability he felt right now at seeing someone suffering and being unable to do anything about it. He hoped the girls would hurry up and find out what was wrong. Only powerful magic could have cast a spell like that, and Leo was anxious to find out what it was.

As he splashed cool water over his face, Shane tried to puzzle out what had just happened. After Paige had mysteriously disappeared in a swirl of lights, he had ran around the whole house, calling out for her, even ringing her cell a couple of times until he found it sitting on the bedside table, where she had left it the night before, when they had gone to bed. Before all this crazy stuff had started happening.

He stood up and patted his face dry with a towel, lowering it as he looked in the mirror at his disheveled appearance. He hadn't shaved since yesterday morning and already he could see the faint outline of a beard, his hair was ruffled and his shirt looked like a train had run over it. His appearance matched his mind at that moment. He was confused, he would admit that. He had no idea what was going on with Paige, she had just disappeared into thin air, right after he had proposed. He had been planning to ask her to marry him that night at dinner. And the confusion on her face got him the most. They had talked about this earlier. They both wanted to get married, but Shane had insisted that he propose to her. He was old fashioned like that. Paige had even started planning the wedding a little bit. So why did she look so surprised when he had bent down on one knee? He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't like it. He suddenly remembered something she had said, about the Halliwell sisters, the girls she once thought she might be related to. Was this something to do with them? Shane ran into their room, pulling open drawers and shuffling through them, looking frantically for Paige's address book. He finally found it in her sock drawer (of course) and pulled it out, flipping to H. There he found the Halliwell's address and memorized it. He threw the book back into the drawer and ran out the room, pulling on his coat and grabbed his keys on his way out the front door. He was going to find out what was wrong with his soon-to-be fiance' even if it killed him.


	8. Chapter 8

Yay! Another Chapter. That was quick! You say, well, that's what happens when I get nice reviews, lol. Not that the reviews for the other chapters weren't nice, I was just busy, lol. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, it's probably one of the last ones, I think there may only be one more chapter, but we will soon see. Thankyou to all my reviewers! I love you guys! And especially TVCrazed and impeccableblahs for PMing me like crazy, lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I will see you next chapter!!! ;-)

Ellie.

Chapter Eight.

Piper sat down slowly onto the worn sofa, letting herself sink in as she blocked out Phoebe and Prue's murmuring voices. The room seemed to swirl around her, her head felt stuffed and she was unable to concentrate. She knew they shouldn't have done the spell, it was clearly personal gain, hadn't they learnt that personal gain was bad? It only caused more trouble for them. Why had she let Phoebe talk her into it? Piper knew why, she wanted her older sister back as much as anyone. And she had ignored all the basic rules of magic to do it.

What had they done?

* * *

Phoebe looked at Piper. She looked how Phoebe felt, but right now she didn't have the luxury to show it. Phoebe was responsible for this, and she would be the one to fix it. And somehow, she would reverse the spell and keep both her sisters. She wasn't going to be forced to choose between them. There had to be another way.

"So I'm guessing that there can only be three charmed ones, so when you cast the spell to bring me back, you inadvertently doomed Paige's life." Prue said simply, shrugging her shoulders as she read through the spell.

"Thanks, Prue." Phoebe said sarcastically. As if she didn't feel bad enough already. "What I want to know is why this didn't happen earlier. Before you died there was the four of us living happily, okay the majority of us were fighting demons, but we were happy doing it." Phoebe flicked through the pages of the book, looking for anything that might help them.

"Because we reconstituted the power of three after Prue… left." Piper called tactfully over from the couch, breaking out of her daze and coming over to join them. "With Paige. That means she is a charmed one, I'm guessing because the spell didn't affect us, as we cast it, so everything in our lives still happened." Piper paused, not really getting what she had said, but her sisters seemed to get it. They nodded.

Phoebe remembered her dream, the one with both Prue and Paige, and them telling her she had to choose, and she refused to believe that it would come to that. Somehow, they would find another way.

* * *

She saw her parents, smiling, laughing. She saw Shane, along with her many other boyfriends. She saw her sisters. And Leo, and her nephew. Cute, sweet, Wyatt, who didn't even know her in this reality. That hurt the most. She wasn't a part of his life anymore, he probably didn't even have her last name as his middle name anymore. She felt sick, and faint. She knew she didn't have long to live, and she didn't care. She knew deep down that she didn't belong in this world as a charmed one, she wouldn't fit. And if she couldn't be a charmed one, then maybe she was better off if she just slipped away.

* * *

Shane rounded another corner, sticking close to the curb despite his speed. He was well over the speed limit, but he didn't care. He needed to find Paige. She needed his help. He didn't know what that shimmering light had been, but he knew Paige could explain it, logically. The day was getting darker, quickly turning into night, as he swerved into the street he had memorized and skidded to a stop outside a Victorian style house. As he got out from the car, slamming the door, he received a dirty look from an old guy taking out the trash from across the street, but he ignored him, instead jogging up the steps and up to the front door.

He pounded on the wooden door, momentarily forgetting all the common courtesy that his mother had taught him, peering through the glass into the house, fully aware that this was considered rude and impolite. He saw a man with light hair making his way towards the door, his face haggard and restless. He opened the door and Shane stepped back, attempting to calm himself before he scared this guy into slamming the door.

"I'm sorry, I can't talk right now, and neither can the girls, you will have to come back later." He went to shut the door, but Shane stopped it from closing. The man looked up in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm looking for a Paige Mathews? Is she here?"

The look on the man's face told Shane that she was, and he pushed further inside, despite the man's protests.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" He asked.

Shane looked earnestly at the man. "I'm her boyfriend, actually, fiancé, I think. I'm not too sure on that part."

"You're Shane?"

The mention of his name was enough to stop Shane in his tracks. "So she is here, then? Please, I need to see her. It's an emergency."

The guy looked pained, like he wanted to let him in, but someone or something was stopping him from doing so. Maybe he just needed a little push.

"Look, if you don't let me in, I'm just going to have to call the police and tell them you are holding my fiancé hostage in your house. I'm sure they would love to hear that."

A few seconds passed as Shane impatiently waited as the man thought it over, then caved and opened the door wide, gesturing for him to come inside. Despite his gut screaming at him to leave, to run away right now, he kept walking, following the guy up the stairs into a room. What he saw was enough to break his heart. Paige was lying in a fitful sleep on the bed, sweaty and pale, her eyelids fluttered, and she tossed and turned, moaning and murmuring in her slumber.

"What happened? Call an ambulance! Why aren't you doing anything?" He rushed to Paige's side, holding her clammy hand with his own, and using his other hand to feel her forehead. She was burning up.

The man stood at the door, arms folded. "Hospitals can't do anything for her, Shane. And the police won't help either. My wife and her sisters are working on fixing her, but you are just going to have to trust us. We can't really explain what's happening, not in a way you will really understand, anyway."

Shane turned back to Paige, smoothing her hair back. She stirred slightly and her eyes fluttered open.

"Shane?" She murmured in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you." Shane whispered softly, looking deep into her warm brown eyes. "It's okay, you are going to be okay." He hushed.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Piper paced across the attic, past Prue, who was now on the sofa, and Phoebe, who was looking through the book.

"Pacing isn't going to help any, Piper we have to figure out how to reverse the spell without reversing it." Prue's brow crinkled in confusion at what she had just said. "Somehow."

"We shouldn't have even cast the spell, not that I'm not glad you are here, Prue." Piper cast a guilty glance at her older sister, Prue dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand.

"No, it's okay. I understand."

"Maybe we can do the reversal spell, but with Prue as well, maybe that will take us back to our reality with her." Phoebe piped up from where she stood.

Prue shook her head. "That won't work. We will still have the power of four, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Phoebe sighed, then leant her head against the book, groaning. Suddenly she felt the all too familiar tug as she was pulled into a vision. She found herself on the edge of a cliff, with Paige on one side, Prue on the other, both in white dresses. She suddenly realised this wasn't an ordinary vision, this was a dream, the one she had been having non-stop lately. But she was awake, wasn't she? All of a sudden, the dream-vision ended and she felt herself crash back to reality, gasping, as she realised what it meant. Piper and Prue rushed over to her, waiting for Phoebe to fill them in.

"What was it?" Piper demanded, taking her younger sister by the arm.

"The dream again, Piper." Phoebe gasped. "I think we have to choose between our sisters."


	9. Chapter 9

I have no excuses. None at all. But I am sorry it took me this long to update. I am a horrible person. This will Probably be the second last chapter, the last one being just to sum it all up.

Thanks to you all! I hope you enjoy! ;-)

Chapter Nine.

Piper frowned, what Phoebe had said rang true. It did seem as if they would be forced to choose between their sisters, and that pained Piper more than anything. She had only just got Prue back, and she didn' t know if she was strong enough to lose her again, but Paige was her little sister. Well, younger sister, anyway. She was supposed to protect her, and here she was, contemplating letting her die. Letting one of them die. It shouldn't come to that, yet. They would find a way to save both sisters, she was sure of it.

"Found anything yet?" Piper asked Phoebe, who was hovering over the book with red brimmed eyes. Phoebe shook her head.

"No. There is nothing in here that tells us how to reverse the spell, and keep both sisters." Phoebe's lower lip quivered and she set her head in her hands. The door to the attic opened and Prue came in, carrying three cups of coffee, she handed one to Phoebe and Piper.

"Shane is here." Prue said, causing her sister's heads to shoot up in alarm.

"It's okay, he's not doing anything. He is just sitting next to Paige's bed, holding her hand. He really loves her, doesn' he?"

Piper nodded. "Looks like. I better go talk to him, that is, if Leo hasn't already," Piper said, slipping into the role of the eldest subconciously.

Prue took a sip of the hot drink and shook her head. "No. He is downstairs with Wyatt. He's pretty grumpy. Wyatt, that is. I think he senses what is going on."

Piper smiled to herself despite the predicament. "He's smart, my boy is." She turned to Phoebe, who was still stanbding over the book of shadows, her cup of coffee sitting untouched beside her. "While I'm talking to Shane, maybe you should have a break, Prue can take over for a while. You are no help to anyone if you are exhausted."

Piper slipped out of the room, and Prue turned to Phoebe. "Man, she's bossy. I'm not like that, am I?"

Phoebe raised her eyebrows then turned back to the book, grinning to herself.

Shane looked up as he heard a light knock on the bedroom door.

"You can come in. It is your house." Shane said, adding the last part quietly. He turned back to Paige, stroking her hand gently between in his. He saw a woman sit on the bed next to his girlfriend. He was shocked to see the concerned look in her eyes as she caressed a soft hand across Paige's forehead, sweeping away a dark lock of hair. She looked up at him, and Shane's grip on Paige's hand tightened.

"I'm guessing you are a little confused right now."

"A little?" Shane's mouth twisted into a wry grin. "A little doesn't even begin to cover it. What the hell is going on?"

The woman sighed, staring back down at the sleeping Paige.

"My name is Piper, I'm Paige's older sister..."

"Paige doesn't have any sisters." Shane interupted, venom leaking into his voice.

"Just let me finish, okay?" The woman said fiercly with a fury that startled him. He nodded.

"As I said, Paige is my little sister, well half-sister, to be correct. She was adopted after my mother fell pregnant to her whitelighter..." Piper continued, telling him a strange story about witches, demons and angels. Shane listened, scared and fascinated. After Piper had finsished, Shane stood up.

"I'm going, and I'm taking Paige with me, she needs a hospital, not a strange bed in a strange house full of nutjobs like..." Shane didn't even get to finish his sentence before the lamp standing in the corner of the room shattered into pieces. Shane jumped in shock.

"Think about it." Piper said simply, as she got up and left the room. She walked into the hallway where she bumped into Prue, who was running down the hall.

"Whoa, hold it, Prue. Where's the fire?" Pipper grabbed her older sister's shoulders, holding her still. Prue gasped, her brown eyes wide.

"It's Phoebe, she's gone, and she left a note."

"Well, what does it say?" Piper asked, panic rising inside of her.

Prue passed her sister the note which she had held tightly in her hand. "I was only gone for a second, how could she do this to us?" Prue was angry as well as scared, and Piper could see why.

"Dear Prue, Piper and Paige," Piper read. "It is my fault this happened, and so I am the only one who can make this decision. I won't let any of you choose, I have to make the decision, that's what my dreams were telling me. Love, Phoebe."

Piper looked up at her sister, horror etched on her face. "What do we do?"

Prue drew comfort from Leo's hand as he orbed her and Piper to where he had sensed Phoebe was. Prue only hoped they weren't too late to stop Phoebe from making the biggest decision of her life on her own, as they had had to make a stop a Darryl's to drop off Wyatt.

Prue looked around in suprise, she had expected that they would find Phoebe in the graveyard, reversing the spell, instead they were in an alleyway. Piper was obviously suprised too.

"Why are we here, Leo? I thought you were taking us to Phoebe."

Leo frowned. "I did. She should be here somewhere. Be careful, somthing doesn't feel right."

Prue rolled her eyes at her brother-in-law. "Thanks for your great insight."

Leo shrugged, then followed his wife, who had already started walking down the alley. Suddenly, they heard a crash from further up, and Prue took off running with Leo and her sister close behind. She stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw.

Phoebe, surrounded by four leering demons.

"I couldn't choose." Phoebe whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks, before her eyes closed for the last time, and she fell to the ground, a black dagger deep in her chest.

What? Phoebe dead? No! You are probably suprised, it was a suprise to me too, please review, tell me what you think. And you never know, there might be a few more chapters yet, depends on how i feel at the time. ;-)


	10. Chapter 10

Yeah... I know. Sorry. It's been so long since my last update, i just hope i haven't done the story any injustice. I really enjoy this story, but it takes me so long to write a chapter... Anyways, i hope you like, this is to all the reviewers, becuse you keep reminding me about this story, lol.

Chapter Ten.

Piper's scream echoed throughout the alley, tears slipping down her pale cheeks as she gasped for breath. She ran over to Phoebe, but her run didn't seem fast enough, it was like time was moving slower, like she was pulling her legs through water. She dropped down to her sister's side, grasping her hand, feeling her pulse, trying to stop the bleeding. She didn't even notice as Prue flew around her, vanguishing the demons with the fury of revenge. It was over quick, and then she felt Prue kneeling next to her.

"Leo..." Piper forced her husband's name out of her raw throat, but he was already there beside her, his hands already trying to work their magic on Phoebe's torn flesh, but nothing seemed to be happening.

"We're too late..."

"What do you mean, we're too late, Leo? She was alive, we saw her, she was alive not two minutes ago! She can't be dead... She can't be!" Prue shouted at her brother-in-law, anger filled her, filled every part of her. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She wanted to kill someone, those demons weren't enough. She just wanted her little sister back.

Prue glanced down at Phoebe's head, held softly in Piper's bloody hands. Blood mingled with sweat across Phoebe's face where Piper had brushed aside dark hair, trying to uncover her delicate, heartshaped face. As if that would help.

Leo suddenly stood up, he too had blood on his hands, but he didn't seem to notice as he wiped them across his jeans.

"Piper..." Leo reached a hand down to his wife, hurting just as she hurt. Phoebe is like a sister to him. Was...

"Why can't you heal her, Leo? Why? You have to do something, I can't go through this again, I just can't..."

Then suddenly she was in Leo's arms, crying so hard her chest hurt. Prue held Phoebe on her lap, not wanting her baby sister to touch the cold concrete. She reached down with her free hand and closed her eyelids against those soft, brown eyes. The finality of that act releasing a wave of salty tears that threatened to completely overwhelm her.

Leo noticed the shimmer of orbs first. He stopped whispering comfort to his distraught wife and lifted his head to see who it was, prompting Prue and Piper to do the same.

"Oh, god... What hapened?" Paige gasped, she started to run over to Phoebe, but never got the chance. Prue suddenly realised who she should be angry at.

"You..." Was all Prue could manage before she swiped her hand hard at Paige, sending her flying across the alley, landing on a huge, metal dumpster with a loud bang. This seemed to wake Piper up.

"Prue! What did you do?" Leo helped her to stand up, before grabbing Phoebe off Prue as she thrust her lifeless body at him.

Paige had barely stood up when she was thrown backwards again, this time she orbed away before she could hit the brick wall.

"Prue, stop it, right now. You're going to hurt her." Piper tried to remain calm, while inside her stomach flip-flopped. She couldn't lose Paige too...

"She is not our sister, Piper, don't you see? She's a demon who just wanted to kill us."

Again Paige was forced to orb before she hit the wall, reappearing next to Piper.

"Prue, I am not a demon. Remember the truth spell?"

Prue stopped as she was faced with logic. Her head swirled, she didn't know what to think anymore.

"Then why are you here? You were sick before, dying." Prue let her hands drop to her sides, exhausted. She just wanted to start this day over again.

"She was dying because there can only be three chamed ones with activated powers. Phoebe sacrifced herself to save Paige, to save you, Prue." Piper said softly, watching defeat fill Prue's eyes. Piper crossed the distance between herself and her older sister and hugged her close as she crumpled against her, her shoulders heaving. Then there was another pair of arms around them both, Paige's wet face against Piper's cheek, and while she orbed two of her sisters back to the manor, Leo orbed the third.

Prue was numb. Completely numb. Her tears had long since dried up, and the cup of tea Piper had made her sat cold in her hands. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. She barely recognised where she was, she knew she was in the manor, but wether in the attic or the kicthen... she didn't know, couldn't bring herself to look. She could hear people talking around her, Darryl, maybe, that guy, Shane, Leo, Piper, Paige. But she couldn't hear what they were saying. It was like listening to voices under water, mumbled. She knew she should be paying attention, should be listening to what Darryl had to say, they needed to think of a cover story, how Phoebe had died. But she couldn't. Or rather, wouldn't. She didn't want to live in a world that her little sister wasn't a part of, it didn't seem right. It wasn't fair... It should have been her...

She suddenly snapped out of her daze to discover she was in the parlour alone. They had moved their discussion elsewhere, apparently realising Prue's lack of input. She knew wht she had to do, and she stood up to look for the one person who might actually help her.


	11. Chapter 11

I thought I would finish this story, and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, though not at all happy that it took me so long to complete it- nearly a year! Stupid life, getting in the way of fan ficition, lol.

Anyway, so it's just this chapter and the prologue, which will be posted at the same time as this.

Hope you enjoy, please review, and sorry it took so long to update!

Oh snd I'm sorry there is no Piper in this chapter, but it needed to mainly be about Paige and Prue.

Chapter Eleven.

Prue found Paige in Phoebe's room, silently holding a photo of the three older sisters in her hands. Her eyes were dry. She looked up as she heard the door open.

"It hurts so much that I didn't get to grow up with you guys. That I lived most of my life never realising that I had three wonderful sisters living practically next door to me. I wish I could have gotten to know you, Prue. And I guess that now, I can. But it will never, ever be the same without Phoebe." Paige sighed, a tear slipped down her cheek.

"She was the rock, you know? She kept this family together. After you died, Piper went... she went Fury. She never really accepted me, not properly. I know she loves me in her own way, but there is a part of her that never got over losing you, and I think she was afraid to open up her heart to that kind of pain again. But Phoebe, that girl lives in the moment. She accepted me the instant she found out about me, she made me feel special and normal all at the same time. She showed me the great person I could be. She held this family together..." A torrent of tears escaped her now, and Paige kept talking, though her words no longer made any sense.

Prue found herself crossing the room and enveloping Paige in a big hug.

"I need you to help me get her back."

Paige pulled back in shock. "What?"

Prue stood up and leant against Phoebe's dresser. "I need to reverse the spell, I can't live this life knowing it was meant to be Phoebe. I just can't. So I need for you to help me reverse the spell. I'm asking you because you love Phoebe as much as I do, and because in you world, you don't know me, I'm like a stranger to you. And if you had to sacrifice the life of a stranger to save you sister, would you?"

"No."

Prue stood silent for a minute, shocked at the answer.

"What do you mean, no? Do you want Phoebe back or don't you?" Prue felt anger sizzle through her.

"Ofcourse I want Phoebe back, more than anything. But I won't sacrifice someone else to do it. Not even the sister I never knew." Paige wiped her wet cheeks, staring squarely into the oldest sister's eyes. "Phoebe wouldn't want that."

Prue pushed a hand through her dark hair, trying to remain calm.

"Paige. If you were in my position, if your death would bring back Phoebe, would you do it?"

Paige nodded. "Without a second thought."

"So can't you see that I feel the same way? I will do anything to save my baby sister, even if it means dying."

Paige was quiet for a moment.

"Okay." She relented, defeated. "But there's something I have to do first."

-###-

"Ask me again."

Shane looked up from where he sat by himself in the living room, where he had been trying to take in the events of the day. Trying to make sense of it all.

"Sorry?" His eyebrows creased in confusion.

Paige walked over to Shane. She pulled him to his feet and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. How she had missed those lips.

"Ask me again." She repeated quietly, patiently.

Shane's eyes widened, and he reached his hand into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the tiny, modest engagement ring. He glanced back at his girlriend before slowly bending down on one knee.

"Paige Matthews, will you marry me?"

Paige pulled him to her feet, filled with bitter sweet happiness, knowing it must end.

"Yes." She said the word so quietly, she was practically mouthing it, but Shane's mouth pulled into a wide grin nevertheless, and he picked her up in his strong arms, kissing her like she had never been kissed before.

And probably would never be kissed again.

-###-

Once again, Paige found herself standing in the cemetery in the dead of night, the still night air chilling her to the bones. Except this time she was with only one sister, one she never imagined she would meet. A sister that she was really starting to like, one who she was starting to love.

"So is this about where... my grave is, in your world?" Prue shivered, teeth chattering.

Paige nodded.

"Yeah, except in my world the grave says Prue Halliwell, beloved sister. Here it says... Fergus Dudley, beloved grandmother. Who names their daughter Fergus?"

Prue laughed, and Paige's heart turned. She would never hear that laugh again.

"Okay, here goes." Prue poured another potion near Fergus' grave, but not quite on it and, holding Paige's hand, they said the words that would reverse the spell.

After they had finished, it was quiet once more.

"Did it work?" Prue asked softly. Paige squeezed Prue's hand.

"I don't know, we won't know untill the morning."

Prue sighed, glancing over at her younger half-sister. "In that case, I know exactly how I want to spend my last night."

"Hmm, how?" Paige asked, somewhat distractedly.

"Getting to know that little half-sister of mine."

Paige smiled, although she felt sick inside. "Wouldn't have it any other way."


	12. Prologue

Very short, I know, but only a prologue, which I don't usually write, but this story called for one. So this is it! I hope you enjoy, and please review! Keep an eye out! I don't know if i'll do a Charmed story again any time soon, but then again I don't know, maybe. Anyway, it's nearly 1:30 AM so i'm not sure what this chapter is like, to my sleep deprived eyes, these chapter look great, but then I could wake up and be like, what the helll did I write that for? lol.

Bye for now!

Prologue.

Paige woke up, eyes opening wide as she realised what day it was.

Prue's Birthday.

It had been about a week since Prue, with Paige's help, had reversed the spell, and put things back to normal. Fortunately for them, Piper and Phoebe didn't seem to remember any of it. Unfortunately for her, Paige did.

She assumed it was because they hadn't done the actual reversal spell, which got her thinking that maybe Prue might remember.

She hoped she did.

Slipping her legs out from under the covers, she pulled her dressing gown on and padded silently down the stairs. She found Piper up already, flowers filled the entire expanse of the kitchen as she walked around, as if in a daze, arranging them into bouqets. Her older sister smiled weakly as she saw Paige come in, and gestured to the pot of coffee sitting on the stove. Piper never talked much on Prue's birthday. Usually that bothered Paige, but not today.

Today, Paige didn't feel like talking either.

Pulling out the card she had written to Prue, Paige opened it up, staring at the words she had written; 'Happy Birthday.'

Grabbing a black pen, Paige added a few more words under the phrase, feeling sad, but content at the same time.

'I miss you.'


End file.
